1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a stator wire retainer for an electric motor, and in particular to a stator magnet wire retention system that can retain stator magnet wires without the use of encapsulants.
2. Brief Description of Related Art
Electric motors, such as the electric motors used in electrical submersible pumps (“ESP”) include magnet wires in the stator for generating a magnetic field. The magnet wires typically include wires that run axially along the stator and then loop back, near an end of the stator, to run axially along the stator in the opposite direction. One wire, thus, will have multiple runs and loops. The loops at the ends must be restrained in order to hold the wires in place.
Magnet wires in electric motor stators are usually restrained from movement by an encapsulant such as varnish or epoxy. The encapsulant fills the voids around and between the magnet wires and hardens in place. Unfortunately, the encapsulants are degraded at high temperature and can fail to restrain the wires. Some motors, such as ESP motors in particular operating conditions, are difficult to cool and, thus, must operate at temperatures above the failure temperature of the encapsulants. Therefore, it is desirable to have an alternate technique for restraining magnet wires in an electric motor that is not susceptible to failure at high temperature.